


"I Have a Name"

by ab2fsycho



Series: Hold My Tea and Watch This [15]
Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Angst is my friend, Dark!Jack, Fluffy, Hurt/Comfort, I like fluffy, I really need to learn how to tag, M/M, Pitch does not like this, and he likes to bother Pitch, especially when there's angst, has a mind of his own, implied sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-24
Updated: 2013-06-24
Packaged: 2017-12-16 02:21:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/856654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ab2fsycho/pseuds/ab2fsycho
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which this new side of Jack begins to manifest and grow, taking Pitch by surprise.</p>
            </blockquote>





	"I Have a Name"

Jack’s changes were random. There was no predicting when his eyes would darken and his already pale skin would grow paler. The only indication Jack had informed Pitch about was that he could feel it as it’s about to happen on his grayed forearm. It wasn’t entirely linked to stress. There had been moments when Jack would just stop moving and change. Intervals between one change and the next could be as short as an hour or as long as a week. Never longer, though. Learning to control something that was so unpredictable was damn near impossible.

If the arbitrariness of the changes wasn’t hard enough to deal with, the constantly shifting personality of the shadow was almost intolerable. At first, dealing with the other Jack was simple. The other Jack needed to feel protected, and he usually found security either in the shadows of the lair or with Pitch himself. One of his earlier habits had been to find a wall and lean against it, facing outward so that he could watch every movement cautiously. Touching Jack when he was in this state was ill-advised. He tended to react quickly and sometimes violently to something as small as brushing past him while walking by. If he wanted physical contact, he would seek Pitch out. Pitch’s Jack had become much the same way. Since they had left North’s Workshop, things had been different between them. The physical aspect of their relationship was strained. They still talked, but not a great deal. Their main concern was with this new version of Jack Frost.

As days went by, however, the other Jack started to change more. Eventually he could control his dark frost. At first, anything he touched with his bare hands and feet would start to ice over. Now he only created the ice when he was feeling . . . mischievous was too gentle a word, but this Jack wasn’t outright deceitful yet. He rarely left the lair in this state because he didn’t like light. If it was night, sometimes he’d escape and head for colder regions. It was still summer after all. It wouldn’t be long before Jack’s duties as a winter spirit would complicate matters. For now, the other Jack just had a little fun creating blizzards in the faraway northern parts of the world. Though this new creature was not Jack, he loved fun like Jack. Jack and Pitch suspected, however, that this new Jack loved an entirely different kind of fun. So Pitch hadn’t allowed him to encounter people yet. He tried to keep the new Jack as close to him as possible when he appeared. 

But with this appearance of a ‘fun-loving’ side came the emergence of a less than submissive version of Jack. The other Jack got bolder and bolder with each appearance. He went from clinging to Pitch’s robes or hiding in shadows to playing tricks on Pitch. Small tricks, really. Nothing too harmful. For an immortal, at least. He hadn’t frozen Pitch under the bed, for one. Yet. His new favorite trick usually involved a patch of ice on one of the lair’s bridges. One would think that trick were obvious and simple to avoid. However, the other Jack’s games could get as elaborate as Pitch’s. These games were another reason Pitch kept the new Jack away from humans. Though Pitch might find the peril this Jack was causing interesting, it would make keeping this new side of Jack hard to conceal from the Guardians. Being an immortal, Pitch could survive the tumbles that stemmed from these tricks. Humans might break their necks. 

If Pitch knew a little more about how this new Jack worked, then he would eventually find ways to play back without traumatizing his Jack. He explained to his Jack during one of the intervals between changes that he was still unsure of how the other Jack was functioning, but was starting to garner some entertainment from the situations. Fortunately for both of them, Jack withheld telling Pitch that he’d been right: Pitch might grow to like this new Jack.

The new Jack spoke more, asking Pitch questions. He mostly wanted to know about himself at first. When the other Jack appeared, it was as if another person entirely was taking up residence in Pitch’s lair. Both Pitch and Jack assumed that this other Jack didn’t have complete access to Jack’s memories. Considering Jack only ever remembered snippets of his experience as the other Jack, that seemed fitting. The questions started off rather small and insignificant in Pitch’s eyes. As soon as the notion that Jack and Pitch were in a relationship had come up though, that was all the new Jack could ask about. 

“So you two do the thing, right?”

“What?” Pitch was often confused by the new Jack’s vernacular. This was one of those times. “What thing?”

“The thing! You know?” He started making an obscene gesture with his hands. Pitch narrowed his eyes and turned away. Questions like these annoyed him. He could deal with trivial conversation. He wasn’t about to talk about his and the young Guardian’s relationship with this entity. “I am so taking that as a yes!”

“Why are you so interested?”

“Would Jack get jealous if I made a pass at you?” That was a question Pitch hadn’t heard before. He turned and glared at the golden-eyed boy. The new Jack winked at him, then put his hands up innocently. “No worries. I just got a scrap of an image of how pissed your Jack would be.” He grinned wildly then, his hands on his hips. “Oh, what if I actually started hitting on other people. How would you feel about that?”

“Not in that body, you won’t,” Pitch snarled.

The boy mockingly put his hands on his face, feigning terror as he said, “Oh, I’m so scared.” He lowered his hands and straightened up. “Well, then. Possessive a little, are we? At least let me have a little fun with this. Do you talk about sex often?”

“Where are you getting all of your ideas?” Pitch asked suspiciously. Honestly, how much on this subject could the shadow know?

“I’ll take that as a no. What, was he blushing virgin or something?” Apparently the looks on Pitch’s face were very telling. The boy was having this talk all on his own and still getting answers out of the Boogeyman. “He was! I’ll bet that was fun!”

“Do change the subject.”

“But I like this one.”

“Well I don’t.”

“That’s too bad, Nightmare Man!”

“It’s king, you insolent creature.”

“I think Nightmare Man has a better ring to it.”

“Well, that’s not your call to make.” 

“Too bad you can’t get too kinky with him. You’ve got a bit of a wild side to you, Nightmare Man.” 

“And neither of you will see it.” Pitch turned away again, determined to get out of this situation before the conversation grew even less appealing.

There was a brief silence from the young man as Pitch moved partially into the shadows. “You know he’s afraid of you, right?” That made Pitch stop dead in his tracks. He didn’t turn around. He couldn’t make himself. “Yeah, he’s afraid. Afraid you’ll eventually turn him out.” Pitch’s eyes widened at the thought, his back straightening. “Afraid you’ll grow impatient with his miniscule fears and problems. He’s been expecting you to lose your temper for a while.”

“I thought you couldn’t see into his mind.” The words were soft, Pitch unable to hide the surprise in his tone.

“I see a little bit. Just skim the surface. And he’s got a lot of surface to skim.” The boy continued talking even while Pitch couldn’t look at him. “I think it would help if you lost your temper with him. Might make him see just how much you want him.”

“Why bring this up?” Pitch turned around again. The look on the boy’s face was dead, almost completely devoid of emotion. It made the black scleras and golden irises seem . . . chilling.

“Because I want to.” The boy raised his head defiantly, tilting it slightly. “These little fears. Fears of restraint. Has he told you why he has them?” Again, Pitch didn’t need to answer. His face said it all. And now, he was genuinely interested in what the new Jack had to say. “It’s killing you, isn’t it? The fact that you don’t know?”

“Tell me,” Pitch growled, his tone one sharp note away from pleading.

“You two don’t talk much. That’s kinda sad.” The boy started circling the Nightmare King as he spoke. “It’s a memory I can’t fully see. It happened when he was human.”

“What happened?” He was begging now.

“It started as a sick prank. He was bullied as a human, you know—.”

“No, I don’t know,” he interrupted sharply.

“Well, he was. Not frequently, mind you. But when they picked on him, they were brutal.”

“What happened?” he asked again.

“It started as a simple prank. Jack likes pranks, right? Well, this one. This one was a gem. The kids thought that someone would find him eventually, I think. But—.”

“He was left tied up for days,” Pitch finished the story himself.

“The cruelest thing he’d ever endured. Until he died, at least. Then he was in for all kinds of cruelties.” The boy was behind him now. “Including you.” Pitch had the feeling that this new being was seeing into Jack’s mind more than he was admitting. The thought crossed his mind that that meant there was more of Jack in this entity than Jack had told him. How much of what this thing was saying was true? “He went for centuries without having to react to that fear. He didn’t even remember having the fear until he got his memories back. Then along came you.” The boy had circled back around in front of Pitch, a wistful look on his face. “It’s depressing, really. I kind of like a bit of restraint.” Suddenly, Pitch found himself slipping on a patch of black ice. He fell backwards, landing hard on his back. As soon as he was flat on the stone, his hands froze to the ground and he couldn’t move. Then the creature was on top of him, straddling his waist and hands on either side of Pitch’s head. “Don’t you?”

“Jack, if you’re in there—.”

“I’m not Jack.”

“That’s obvious.”

“I have a name, now.”

“I want Jack—.”

“Well you can’t have him, yet. I want you to know my new name.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m not Jack, and you make that very clear with a simple glance. I may as well make things easier for you.”

Pitch sighed reluctantly. “What’s your name?”

“Rin.” The boy drew closer to him. “My name is Rin. And that’s the only thing I’m gonna make easy for you.”

And then Pitch was being kissed with a force that was definitely not Jack. But it was Jack’s lips on his. It was Jack’s hands pulling his robe apart, Jack’s body being pressed against his. It was Jack’s sweatshirt being pulled over Jack’s head and thrown aside, and yet this wasn’t Jack. This was . . . Rin. And Rin had him frozen down. “Let me up,” he managed to huff out.

“But doesn’t it feel nice? Losing a bit of your tight-fisted control?”

“Not with you.”

“With Jack, then.” The boy managed to sound miserable at that. “Do you tell him you love him? Because it is very obvious you do. Maybe not to him, but it is to me.”

“Please, let me up. I refuse to beg you any further.”

“You feel like you’re betraying him, don’t you? By getting involved with me?”

“You call this getting involved?”

“I call this having fun. And tormenting you . . . it’s going to be a lot of fun. And the best way to do it is to use Jack against you.”

Pitch snarled, his temper flaring up. “Let him go.”

“Kinda can’t do that. I leave his body, then I am no longer. And I like living.”

“When I find a way to destroy you, I will.”

“That’s only if I hurt your dearest Jack, right? For now, I’m your greatest ally in finding out what goes on in his funny little head.”

“Let. Him. Go.”

“You really don’t listen to me, do you?”

Pitch summoned his shadows to break open the icy manacles Rin had set for him. When his hands were free, he flipped the boy onto his back and pinned him by the elbows. “I hear you, but on this matter you had better hear me as well. You hurt Jack, I will do everything in my power to force you from his body.”

“Finally, you’re starting to show some promise!” Rin cried excitedly. “Keep talking, please. I’m enjoying this.”

“Jack is mine. He is not yours. You can’t have him, and I want him back.”

“He is loving this, I can assure you. And by loving, I mean he’s shivering in the coldest, darkest region of his brain.”

“Let him out!” Pitch’s grip tightened on one elbow while his other hand flew up to Rin’s throat.

Rin had to choke out his next words. “That’s right, lose your temper—.”

“NOW!”

“As you wish, Nightmare Man!”

Suddenly, the boy gasped. The black and gold were gone, and with it the surprising amount of calm Rin had demonstrated while faced with the rage of the Boogeyman. It was Jack’s eyes staring up at him. Jack’s terrified eyes. His free hand flew to Pitch’s wrist as he gasped. His body started to tremble as Pitch realized what he’d done. He almost ripped his hands away from Jack, falling backwards in an attempt to get away from Jack’s terror. While the fear was enticing, he didn’t want it. It left a sour taste in his mouth. Rin had fooled him. Rin had fooled him into hurting Jack. That’s all Rin had to do to torment Pitch. At least, that’s all he knew to do for now. When Pitch realized this, he covered his face with his hands.

“Pitch?” Jack’s hands covered Pitch’s, trying to force the Nightmare King to look at him. Pitch fought him at first. “Pitch, please.” Pitch didn’t want to see his face, didn’t want to acknowledge what had happened. But Jack’s hands were shaking. They were shaking profusely, and he couldn’t stand it.

Pitch held Jack’s hands in his, daring to look into the boy’s face. He glimpsed the red marks on Jack’s neck, and he almost had to look away. Then he saw the tears frosted over in Jack’s eyes, which ruined his resolve. “Jack, I’m—.”

“Don’t. Please don’t apologize.”

Jack looked down at their joined hands, and Pitch sensed a shame within the Guardian that didn’t quite fit Pitch’s understanding of the situation. He studied the boy’s face, wondering. He couldn’t only guess what Jack was thinking, but he was a very good guesser. “Exactly how aware are you while . . . he’s in control?”

“I already told—.”

“And I’m not sure I believe you.” Jack’s face fell considerably more, and the shame became even more obvious. “Why would you lie about that?”

“I didn’t—,” he cut himself off with a sigh. “I don’t . . . I’m not . . .,” he cut himself off again, covering his face this time. When he finally found the words, he said, “I just wanted to feel normal again, and knowing what I’m doing to you hasn’t helped.”

“But why would you lie?”

“Partly because I wanted to forget. Mostly because . . . if I can’t talk to you, maybe he can. And vice versa.” Jack placed his hands in his lap. He still didn’t look at Pitch. “I guess I was wrong. I’m just . . . a mess. Nothing but trouble.”

Pitch straightened up when he heard those words come out of Jack’s mouth. That’s what was bothering him? He had been quiet and unresponsive to Pitch because of the words of the twit? Pitch mentally beat himself for remembering that he had been one of the first to suggest Jack was talented in making a mess of everything he got into. Still, he couldn’t believe he hadn’t realized this was what was keeping Jack from speaking to him. He stared at the boy, fighting against his tears as his hands started shaking again. “Jack, you’re not a mess. You’re not trouble. You are definitely not causing me any trouble, and if you were really listening in on my conversation with . . . Rin, then you know all of these things.” Pitch placed a finger on Jack’s chin, forcing the boy to look up at him. “And more.” Pitch tried to smile, but was pretty sure it came out creepier than he’d intended. But Jack’s face lit up the slightest bit, and Pitch was reunited with that old, odd feeling in his chest; the feeling that had somehow convinced him to save the life of a dying winter spirit and had inevitably brought the two of them together. Suddenly, Pitch was pulling him onto his lap and crushing the boy against his chest. He would have thought he was smothering Jack if the Guardian wasn’t hugging him back just as fiercely. “Don’t lie to me again.”

“I won’t.”

“I mean it. If you need to talk, I will listen.”

“I know.” Jack pulled back slightly, resting his forehead against Pitch’s. His lips brushed against Pitch’s lightly. “Now quit being a big sap and kiss me.”

Pitch did. He kissed Jack hard as he held the boy tight against his chest. Jack placed his hands on either side of Pitch’s face, holding the Nightmare King’s lips to his on. As if Pitch would pull away. “I want you. Right here, right now.”

“No one’s stopping you.”



When Pitch had first hugged him, Jack had felt like the contents of his chest were going to explode. He was fairly sure they did when Pitch pretty much tackled him to the ground and started pulling the remainder of their clothes off.

The sex was agonizingly slow. Jack would’ve thought Pitch was purposefully torturing him if the Boogeyman wasn’t holding him so closely. It almost felt like they were relearning each other’s bodies. Pitch never took his eyes off Jack. He worked to maintain eye contact all throughout, as if he were making sure Jack were real.

When both were spent, they stayed on the stone floor for only a moment. During the act, they had completely neglected just how rough the texture of the floor was. Now, it had caught up to them and Jack could tell from the redness on various parts of their bodies that remaining on the floor wasn’t a very good idea. So Pitch transported them to the bed, and Jack found himself being blanketed in Pitch’s robes as the Nightmare King held him close.

“You know,” Jack broke the silence, “I think I look good in black.”

“This may prove a problem. You look better in my clothes than I do.”

“That is not true. Your clothes are bordering three times my size.”

“You are exaggerating.”

“Maybe a little.”

One of Pitch’s fingers traced a line from Jack’s ear to his chin before cupping Jack’s cheek. Jack closed his eyes, savoring the warmth of Pitch’s hand. He smiled at the touch. After opening his eyes again slowly, he was met with a small grin from the Boogeyman. “My Jack.” Then Pitch was kissing him again.

Jack had missed this. He’d missed Pitch’s gentle touch as much as he’d missed the roughness. He’d missed feeling secure, though the security he felt with the Nightmare King had been short-lived prior the attack of the monkey men and even after. The discovery of this thing called Rin had made everything harder for the both of them. Jack had thought he could handle it, but Rin had been right about several things. Jack was scared. Jack was scared of a lot of things. One thing he’d come to learn from Pitch was that fear was necessary at times. His fears, though, had grown debilitating at this point. And he had just barely glimpsed the plans Rin had in mind.

“I need your help with something.”

Pitch perked up a little. “With what?”

“Help me stop being afraid,” Jack’s hand was shaking as he took Pitch’s palm and placed it on his wrist. Pitch hesitated, realizing what Jack wanted from him. Jack squeezed his eyes shut as his Boogeyman wrapped his fingers around the thin, pale wrist. The Guardian struggled to quell the panic that rose inside him even though he’d convinced himself that there was no harm in trusting Pitch.

“You realize you’re asking me to do the exact opposite of what my job entails?” Pitch said.

Jack forced himself to focus on Pitch’s face and not the hand holding his wrist. “Who better to destroy a phobia than a master of fear?”

“Your faith in me is astounding.” Pitch moved Jack’s arm so that the boy’s palm was resting on Pitch’s neck. Jack let out the breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding when Pitch released his wrist. “A phobia takes time and patience. I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thank you.” Jack snuggled against Pitch’s chest, a small moan escaping the Nightmare King’s throat as the boy nestled into him. Their legs tangled as the larger man embraced the smaller. “I think I might be able to get a better handle on Rin’s appearances if we can pull this off.”

There was a pause as Jack heard Pitch’s brain working to process what he’d said. “How?”

“I’m more susceptible to change when I feel afraid or unstable in some way.” Jack closed his eyes against the memory of the attack. “I can’t let anyone catch me by surprise again, either. Rin could be useful until we find a way to oust him. Are you sure—?”

“Don’t even think about it.” Jack had suspected that that would be Pitch’s reaction to another attempt at convincing him to break the staff. The response made him smile. Normal. This almost felt normal. Then Jack thought of something and started laughing. “What?” Pitch almost sounded offended at the laughter. “Jack, what is so entertaining now?”

“Your face when he asked you about,” he paused, chuckling as he tried to say the word, “sex.”

“Do you have any idea of how red your face is right now?”

“It is not.”

“Oh, but it is.”

“Yours was.”

“I beg to differ.”

“It was!”

Jack laughed even more as Pitch rolled on top of him, still arguing as he trapped the Guardian with his weight. “No it wasn’t.”

“It was, though!”

“You must be mistaken. I do not fluster.” Pitch was whispering sinisterly against Jack’s neck, but it was only succeeding in making Jack laugh more.

“But you do!” Jack continued laughing, but his breath hitched as Pitch’s teeth grazed the sensitive flesh of his throat. Still he refuted, “And you did.”

“Recant that statement, or I’ll be forced to do something the both of us might regret.”

“I’m not taking it back.” Pitch pulled away from his throat, their eyes locking. Jack should’ve been disturbed by the roguish look in Pitch’s eyes, but he simply stared back with a look of mischief all of his own.

“Last chance, dear Jack.”

“Do your worst, Boogeyman.”

“Suit yourself.” Then Jack’s torso was being assailed as Pitch tickled him. The boy burst into laughter again.

“That’s not fair!” Jack gasped out through laughter, failing to capture Pitch’s hands to cease the assault.

“You think I fight fair? Where have you been all this time?” There was a brief moment as Pitch stopped tickling as he spoke. Jack jumped on the opportunity, wrapping his legs around the Nightmare King’s waist to prevent him from pulling one of his disappearing stunts. Then Jack fought back. “No no no wait!” As he said this, Pitch tried pulling away from Jack’s hands. Instead, he wound up falling to the side, pulling the boy on top of him. “Stop!”

“We’re not fighting fair, remember?” And Jack doesn’t quit until Pitch gives him exactly what he wants. “You’re gonna laugh!” he daunted, Pitch biting his lip as he tried pushing Jack off of him. But Jack was very good at staying in one place when he wanted to.

“Goddammit!” Pitch shouted as he released a small, uncomfortable laugh that sounded a lot like a combination of hissing and growling. The sound made Jack laugh in turn as he stopped tormenting the Boogeyman and unhooked his legs.

“Isn’t that, like, the second time you’ve cussed in front of me?” Both were panting at this point.

“You’re counting?”

“Maybe.”

Pitch pulled Jack’s face to his as he whispered, “You are marvelous. Do you know that?”

“Coming from you, I better believe it.”

“Good.” Their foreheads touched for a moment. “Now try not to fall asleep. I’ll be tempted to get back at you for making me laugh.”

“You can try.” Both smiled at one another, Pitch holding the Guardian to his chest again. “I like being yours.”

Pitch’s grin widened, and Jack caught a glimpse of sharp teeth. “Good. Because you’re definitely mine.”

**Author's Note:**

> This took longer than I thought it would, but I am happy with it. Starting to get used to new Jack/Rin. Figuring out whether to give him a name or not was the hardest part. He wanted a name though. Wouldn't shut up till I gave him one.
> 
> Pitch still isn't happy with me, but that's not unusual at this point. At least I'm not pushing Jack over the edge anymore. Not really. Not too much. I've taken him out too many times now. Anyhow, hope everyone likes.
> 
> Gonna keep thanking you for sticking with me. I don't even remember drinking tea while writing this one. Not sure if that's a good or bad sign. Still experiencing high amounts of feels, though.


End file.
